GREEN BAY - The Weidner Center will celebrate its past and look ahead to its future for a 25th anniversary season that mixes legendary names like Vince Lombardi, Glenn Miller and Dr. Seuss with Grammy Award-winning Latin rock and international percussion from Israel.

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay performing arts center announced 30 acts on Thursday for its 2018-19 season, including a two-week engagement of “Lombardi,” the play based on David Maraniss’ book “When Pride Still Mattered — A Life of Vince Lombardi.”

The Weidner Center of the Performing Arts on the UW-Green Bay campus is celebrating its 25th year.(Photo: Weidner Center)

The story of the famed Green Bay Packers coach, which opened on Broadway in 2010 starring Judith Light and Dan Lauria, will be produced by the Weidner Center and directed by Greg Vinkler, the artistic director of Peninsula Players in Door County.

It’s the first time the show has been professionally produced outside of Milwaukee and Madison and was a natural tie-in with the Packers’ 100th season this year, said executive and artistic director Kelli Strickland.

Performances Feb. 22 to March 10 will be in the Weidner’s smaller, more intimate Fort Howard Hall, with the option to extend the run to a third week. The cast, which will include actors from Chicago, and crew will have the opportunity to do talk-backs with audiences during their residency.

“What we tried to concentrate on were what are the issues and what is special to Green Bay and our area specifically, so not as much what’s the broadest appeal, but what feels really relevant and significant to this community,” she said.

To that end, violinist Wayne Lin will return to Weidner Center’s Cofrin Family Hall on Sept. 22 to open the season. He was just 11 years old when he was a featured performer with the Youth Orchestra for the building’s inaugural event on Jan. 15, 1993. A graduate of The Julliard School and Yale School of Music, Lin is now the associate and acting concertmaster of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

“It felt like such a great example of the impact of the Weidner, and I definitely knew that I wanted it to be a symphony concert, because the hall begs symphony music,” Strickland said, adding that the evening will also honor those who have been integral to creating and sustaining the Weidner.

The silver anniversary season spans popular musicals “Legally Blonde” and “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” to such recognizable names as humorist and author David Sedaris and holiday music staple Mannheim Steamroller to two Brown County Civic Music Association concerts.

"Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical" will be performed Nov. 17 and 18 at the Weidner Center on the UW-Green Bay campus.(Photo: Submitted by Weidner Center)

“The overriding issue I was really cognizant of is I wanted to strike the perfect balance of looking backward, because that’s something you do on an anniversary, but also trying to think of our programming and messaging and themes that were really about the future. Even though it’s the 25th, we really use a lot of language in reference to what the next 25 look like.”

She points to two performances in particular: “Currents” by Mayumana on March 25, a dance, percussion and multimedia spectacle from Israel featuring artists from more than 20 nationalities, and La Santa Cecilia, the Latin roots-rock band from Los Angeles who won a Grammy Award for its 2013 album, “Treinta Dias.”

A pair of National Geographic Live presentations will feature photographer Anand Varma and NASA engineer Kobie Boykins to expand the offerings beyond comedy, music, dance and theater.

“We’re taking very seriously the notion that culture is a much larger umbrella than perhaps we have thought about it in the past,” Strickland said. “I think we’re widening our arms a little bit in terms of what meets the definition of culture and what doesn’t. I think that we need to be broader in our definition of that.

“I think the same for being a place of exchange of ideas," she said. "I think that any place you’re gathered in a beautiful building and you’re sharing the air with people, it’s a great environment to bring forth the most challenging questions and the most exciting advances in fields. Our university relationship is an important one, and we should play a role in the university’s mission as well.”

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The Weidner Center for the Performing Arts on the UW-Green Bay campus.
(Photo: File/Press-Gazette Media)

Unless otherwise noted, performances are on sale as part of a subscription of three or more shows until 4 p.m. June 19. Subscribers receive up to 10 percent off on their purchase and have first access to the best seats. Subscriptions can be placed at weidnercenter.com, (800) 895-0071 and at the Resch Center box office. Groups of 10 or more can order at (920) 405-1132. Tickets to individual shows go on sale to the general public at 11 a.m. June 22.

The Weidner Center also announced its 2018-2019 6:30 Concert Series, UW-Green Bay Music Season and UW-Green Bay Theatre and Dance Season. Tickets for the latter two will go on sale in September. See the lineups and more information at weidnercenter.com.